As someone who was 9 years old on 9/11 and now a recent high school graduate, I found the "Flo & Friends" comic published Aug. 22 deeply offensive.
It depicts a group of teenagers discussing celebrity antics burned in their memories. "What were we all doing during 9/11?" one asks. Another replies, "Who knows!? Dude, we were like 10!" This is in contrast to senior citizens in the previous panel discussing Pearl Harbor and JFK's assassination.
As a teenager, I confess that many of my friends are fairly ignorant of current events and closely follow celebrity trivia.
However, this comic strip demeans not only teenagers, but young children, too. I remember in excruciating detail where and when I learned of the terrorist attacks, and also the following days and weeks. I know of no one my age who has forgotten any major detail of that horrible day. Not even the most ignorant 10-year-old could fail to grasp the importance of 9/11 as it occurred, and not even the most ditzy teenager could forget.
Jenny Campbell's depiction of teenagers as ditzes who can't even remember 9/11 merely reveals her own ignorant prejudice and suggests that perhaps she lacks any contact with teenagers or 10-year-olds.
Had she asked a 10 year old, she would have discovered that children at that age are much more observant and intelligent than she supposed. Had she asked a teenager about 9/11, she would have realized that those who were, dude, like, 10, remember it like it was yesterday, and she would not have drawn such an ignorant, inaccurate, misleading, offensive and astoundingly insensitive strip.
Iggy Matheson
West Jordan